Who will be the most important player when it comes to generating mismatches vs Pittsburgh's D?

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Lewis and White with LB coverage.

 

[condon84]

I say Lewis or White will play a prominent role. If Pitt plays man a lot, I expect our RBs split wide in isolation if a LB is on him.

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

According to Football Outsiders' preview :

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | AFC Championship Preview 2017

The big difference for the Steelers has been blitz %. Through the game against the Patriots they have then 20th in the league in number of blitzes. Since ? 6th. Will they - can they - do that against a QB like Brady with lots of options.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Everyone knows the drill so I will not print it this time.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

While they do follow LeBeau's system, week 6 they changed up and allowed us to run the football to contain the passing game. I expect them to do the same. For me the most important player vs their D is David Andrews. They are going to come after him hard,early and often .If he buckles like vs houston, we are toast.

Great valid point.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

On 3rd and long, somebody other than Edelman needs to step up. If Pittsburgh allows Edelman to beat them, they deserve to lose.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Again, health permiting, the Patriots can have a field day in the short passing game:

How the New England Patriots can attack the Pittsburgh Steelers' red-hot defense in AFC Championship

[Click here for Full Entry]

Pittsburgh plays a ton of zone coverage. Their linebackers are often responsible for the middle of the field. While athletic, they sometimes lose track of receivers running through their zones.

There are plenty of examples from the past few weeks: Despite dropping eight in coverage, the Steelers lost Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta deep in the middle of the field, resulting in a key 17-yard completion.

Against the Dolphins, inside linebacker Ryan Shazier blitzed up the middle and outside linebacker Bud Dupree, who is generally a pass rusher, dropped into coverage. Miami tight end Dion Sims found the open space behind Dupree and in front of safety Mike Mitchell for a 17-yard gain of his own.

A week ago, most of the Chiefs' offensive production came on similar completions to tight end Travis Kelce.

Over the past few games, Shazier has taken poor angles on receivers catching short passes over the middle, allowing yardage after the catch.

It's not that the Steelers linebackers are slow. It's just that sometimes they do not appear to be in the right spot. (Shazier is a very good athlete, as evidenced by his backpedaling interception of Matt Moore in the Wild Card round).

Given the players listed above -- all tight ends -- this could bode well for Martellus Bennett's potential production in this game.

Julian Edelman, on a tear through the second half of the year, should be in line for another big game, too. The Steelers play off coverage with their cornerbacks, rookie Artie Burns and third-year pro Ross ****rell. Short, quick passes are readily available. The Ravens opened a Week 16 game versus Pittsburgh with two immediate passes to Mike Wallace. Joe Flacco also hit Breshad Perriman for a 15-yard gain on a quick slant route with ****rell in soft zone coverage. On the first play of the Dolphins game, Matt Moore connected with Jarvis Landry for a quick 11-yard gain against ****rell. The Patriots will make a handful of these throws on Sunday.

Edelman should also be able to find the open spots in the Pittsburgh zones over the middle on plays that take longer to develop.

In recent games, teams have not thrown much to the outside against cornerbacks Burns and ****rell. This could be a reflection of Pittsburgh's vulnerability in the middle of the field, or it could be due to the offensive personnel and philosophies of those teams.​